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Insurers follow route of banks to domestic IPO

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-12 09:17

Insurers are following in the footsteps of banks and seeking capital by listing on domestic stock markets in order to expand and serve China's growing demand for financial protection.

Last month,China Life InsuranceCo'sA sharesnearly doubled from its debut price as a crowd of fund managers, company executives and stock exchange officials toasted the listing with champagne.

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"This is a dream come true. We have long awaited the opportunity to return and list on the Chinese mainland," company President Wu Yan said that day, adding that the opening price was appropriate given the firm's growth potential.

China Life, the country's biggest insurer, raised 28.32 billion yuan by selling 1.5 billion A shares in December.

It had previously listed inHong Kong.

Road show

Early this month, its rival,Ping An Insurance(Group) Co, priced its shares from 31.8 yuan (US$3.98) to 33.8 yuan each. The listing will help the country's second-biggest insurer raise up to 39 billion yuan and also become the second insurer to list on the mainland.

Hong Kong-listed Ping An attracted orders from 137 institutional investors during a four-day road show in cities such asShanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou andBeijing. It followed only theIndustrial and Commercial Bank of Chinaas the second biggest in terms of the number of shares offered.

"Ping An's stake quality is quite good and a share price of 50 yuan is still reasonable," said She Minhua, a West China Securities Co analyst.